We’re intimately familiar with SIM cards around here, but it’s always interesting when the paths between carriers and messaging apps cross, sometimes in good relations, and sometimes in bad.
Luckily, WhatsApp‘s latest deal happens to be a good thing. The messaging app now owned by Facebook has teamed with German network provider e-Plus to offer its own SIM with free WhatsApp messaging. This is a step towards making WhatsApp an MVNO (a mobile virtual network operator) like the carriers mentioned above.
Initially this offer is in Germany only using the e-Plus network where the €10 SIM gives unlimited WhatsApp messaging. The €10 goes towards call credit which is charged at nine euro cents per minute, or data which is 24 euro cents per megabyte. For an extra €10, users get 600 credits that can be used interchangeably for one megabyte of data, one minute of talk or one SMS – each charged at one credit). Users still have to pay the 99 US cent annual subscription fee to WhatsApp however.
WhatsApp’s voice service doesn’t appear to be available at this stage in Germany, but with the voice feature up and coming, it could be only a matter of time, though it’s not known if this, too, would be free.
WhatsApp is offering an extra €10 credit to anyone who gets two new users to sign up for a SIM.
Neeraj Arora, WhatsApp’s head of business development says: “WhatsApp has over 50 carrier deals globally. The WhatsApp ePlus SIM card is WhatsApp’s first partnership with e-Plus (a carrier) to launch an MVNO brand. This is the first kind of its deal globally between a technology company and a carrier. Carriers are important strategic partners for WhatsApp and we’re constantly working with them to bring innovative offerings to users globally.”
If you haven’t downloaded WhatsApp to your device yet, you can do so right here. Don’t forget to pick yourself up a WhatsApp SIM if you happen to be in Germany.